Long Road Home
by LittleSpaceMermaid
Summary: I just finished Freaks and Geeks and LOVED it, however I was less than satisfied with the ending. So I decided to write a three-part story about Lindsey coming to terms with her feelings for Nick on her way home from travelling with the Dead Heads.
1. Chapter 1

"Lindsey, get your lazy ass up. You need to get ready."

These were the first words Lindsey Weir heard as she was abruptly woken up by one of her best friends, Kim Kelly. Lindsey sat up from where she had been sleeping on the floor of her friend Laurie's van and pushed her mousy brown hair out her face. She felt a little embarrassed looking at Kim, whose long, blonde hair looked perfect already, even though she had been waking up with massive bed head for weeks already and Kim hadn't seemed to give a crap.

"It's already eleven, you need to get ready," Kim said giving her an impatient look, "You need to get on the bus in 20 minutes if you want to make it home on time. You parents will freak if you're late."

"Oh, right," Lindsey said, still not completely awake, "Thanks Kim."

Lindsey stood up and stretched as Kim left the van. She looked at her reflection in a cracked, dirty mirror and sighed. She has fallen asleep in what she had been wearing the day before, jeans, a plain, wrinkled t-shirt, and her trademark army jacket. She had been doing this for quite a while now, so she was really shocked, but she reminded herself that she would need to stop doing it now that she was going home.

Lindsey groaned out loud at the thought of going home. Over the past few weeks she had been travelling with Kim and a few of her casual "Dead Head" friends, following The Grateful Dead around the country and watching them perform. Her parents of course didn't know this, she told them she was going to an academic summit that she had been accepted to at The University of Michigan. So even though Kim and the Dead Heads were still going to be taking off soon for another week of travelling, Lindsey's two week "summit" was up, meaning she had to go home.

Lindsey got changed into some "respectable" clothes that a well, educated young lady would wear (in other words, clothes her parents would approve of) and ran her hair through her fingers. She didn't worry about finding a brush in the disaster of a van, because she had told her parents that she would be waking up really early, so it would be believable if she got off the bus with bed head. She reviewed the stories she would tell her parents about the "summit" in her head one more time as she packed her things, then hopped out of the van to join Kim.

"Man this sucks that you have to go home," Kim said taking a swig out of a can of Faygo, "This is going to blow without you here."

"Yeah, well, you could always come home with me Kim," Lindsey joked.

"Pfft, yeah, that's going to happen. Anywhere is better than at home with my psychopathic mother," Kim said rolling her eyes. Kim's home life was miserable to say the least, and the only reason she had even come with Lindsey in the first place was to get away from her parents for a few weeks, "Plus, what are your parents going to think if I get off that bus with you? I'm not exactly "Academic Summit" material. They'd be suspicious."

"Yeah, I know. But it's going to be a drag without you until you get back.I mean yeah, I can hang out with the guys, but it's not going to be the same."

"If I were you I'd hang out with Millie until I get back," Kim shrugged as she referred to Lindsey's prudish friend from her days as a Mathlete, "Really drive it home with your parents that you were being a "responsible young woman" these past few weeks. Then when I get back we'll hang out with the losers again and everything will be back to normal."

"Wow, that's actually a good idea Kim."

"Yeah, well, if there is one thing I'm good at its pretending I'm not screwing around and disobeying my parents. Not that they even believe me when I tell the truth anymore. Now come on, Laurie and the others are down the street getting some food. We gotta go say goodbye and get you on that bus."

Lindsey walked with Kim down to where Laurie and the other Dead Heads were eating, which was on the way to the bus stop anyway, and said their short farewells. Then the two bolted to the bus stop, getting there just as the bus was pulling up.

"Alright Linds, see ya in a week," Kim said giving her a quick hug. She wasn't one for long goodbyes.

"Right, see ya Kim."

Lindsey turned to get on the bus, but was stopped when Kim grabbed the sleeve of her army jacket.

"Um, do me a favor and check up on Daniel for me, will ya?" Kim said, referring to her ex-boyfriend that she broke up with just before the school year ended, "Just um, see how he's been doing. I don't really care, but I don't want him to like, end up in a ditch somewhere or anything. God knows he can't take care of himself."

"Right Kim, don't worry. I'll check up on him for you," Lindsey laughed.

They two girls smiled at each other and Lindsey got on the bus to go home.


	2. Chapter 2

Lindsey exhaled deeply as she watched the raindrops begin to hit the window of the bus. _Great, now the weather is bumming me out too_ she thought.

Lindsey didn't want to go home, not one bit. She would have to spend the rest of the summer telling her parents lies about the summit she went on and being on her best behavior if she wanted any freedom at all next year. And heaven forbid her parents find out she didn't go on that summit… she didn't even want to think of that.

And without Kim around she would be forced to hang out with the guys if she didn't want to be trapped hanging out with Millie all summer. Especially since Millie would flip out and probably tell on Lindsey if she found out that Lindsey had been travelling with the Dead Heads these past few weeks instead of doing what her parents thought she was doing. Millie was a great friend, but she could sure get on someone's nerves.

Of course hanging with Daniel, Ken, and Nick wouldn't usually be too bad if it weren't for a couple of small details. Like the fact that Ken would be too busy with his girlfriend, and that Daniel and Lindsey weren't exactly Best Friends Forever and he'd probably say all of about two words to her after making sure Kim missed him. And Nick…

God. Nick. How could she face him? She wasn't exactly the friendliest person in the world when she said goodbye to him two weeks ago. But that was just because she was angry with him for trying to replace her. No, God not replace her, that's not how she wanted it to sound in her head. But she couldn't think of any other way to put it. Nick had been practically in love with her all year and then all of the sudden he started dating that Sarah girl? And all of the sudden he was into DISCO? Nick hated disco! He had to have been trying to been trying to make Lindsey jealous. He had to have been. Right?

Well Lindsey sure did feel something all right, though she wasn't too quick to categorize it as jealousy. It was more like a sick feeling in her stomach that things would never be the same between her and Nick. That he was going to wrap himself up in a new world and forget all about her. She didn't want that. God she didn't want that.

_What do I do? _Lindsey started worrying, forgetting all about her other worries of her parents and going home. _I can't lose Nick… I care about him so much… I just…_

Just what? She couldn't find the words. Just didn't want to be near him when he was acting this way? Just didn't love him like he loved her? Or just wasn't ready to open her heart and let him in?

Just as she began dwelling on the last option a crash of thunder brought her back to reality. The rain was pouring down now, and she could barely see out the window because everything was so obscured by the downpour. She glanced down at her watch: still 2 hours until she pulled up to the spot her parents were picking her up at.

This was going to be a long trip home.

The heavy downpour had only let up a little when the bus finally pulled up to the bus stop. Lindsey could see her parent's car parked a little ways away; she couldn't blame them for not waiting for her outside. She grabbed her bag and headed towards the front of the bus, seeing her father running up to the bus to meet her. As she stepped off the bus her father immediately grabbed her bag and motioned her to run to the car without so much as a "hello." The two ran to the car, where her mother was waiting in the front seat. As she climbed into the backseat of the car she immediately noticed the absence of her brother, who was probably off playing with his dorky friends. His presence wasn't really missed.

The ride from the bus stop to the house seemed even longer than the trip there, even though the bus stop was only a fifteen-minute drive. Her parents seemed full of questions about the summit that Lindsey had no clue how to answer, and she ended up making half of the stuff up on the spot. She silently cursed herself for wasting all of her time preparing answers to questions her parents didn't even bother to ask, the ones NORMAL parents would have asked.

As they pulled into the driveway Lindsey thanked God that this torture was finally over.

"So Lindsey, tell me all about your professors at the summit," her father said as they pulled their rain-soaked jackets off in the living room. Lindsey was pretty sure her mother had just asked her to describe her professors about 10 minutes ago. They were probably double-checking to make sure Lindsey didn't slip up some information when recounting the story that proved she wasn't there. Either that or they really weren't paying attention to anything she said. Even though she was paranoid about them figuring her out, she still knew it was probably the latter.

"Um, listen guys, I had to get up at five in the morning and pack, and I'm really exhausted. I kind of just want to go lay down for a while. We'll have plenty of time to talk later, right?"

Lindsey's parents exchanged a half concerned look and then turned back to her.

"Well all right dear, but we want to hear all about t at dinner tonight, alright?" her mother said.

"Right," Lindsey sighed, relieved that she could get away and work out her story some more, "I'll tell you everything at dinner. I just need to get some sleep first."

Lindsey picked up her bag and walked down the hall to her room. She closed the door and collapsed onto her bed, still wearing her drenched clothes. Even though she really hadn't been up since five am, she still felt exhausted. She managed to force herself off of the comfy bed and into some dry clothes, only to retreat under the covers immediately afterwards.

_All right. I need to concentrate, get all my facts straight. I can't slip up and make them suspicious. _

Lindsey prepared herself to spend the next few hours she had before dinner preparing her newly re-worked story to tell her parents. However as she started getting more and more comfortable lying back in her own bed again, she started to drift off. It was in the few minutes where she was suspended in the area just between consciousness and sleep, when one's thoughts tend to run together and make no sense, that she thought of Nick again.

_He couldn't have really liked Sarah, could he? He likes me. He liked me. He doesn't anymore. Because I didn't like him. But I didn't NOT like him. Everything happened so fast. I just want to start over. Just one more chance… one more chance…_

The next thing Lindsey remembered was being jolted awake by her father.

"Lindsey, are you alright? You've been fast asleep for hours. We tried to wake you for dinner but you wouldn't budge," there was a look of concern in her father's eyes as she looked up at him, then at the clock near her bed. He wasn't kidding, she had slept straight through dinner- it was now almost 8 o'clock.

"I'm sorry dad… I guess I was even more tired than I thought," she replied, still barely awake.

"Well you may want to wake up, you have a visitor." He said as he started heading toward the door.

_Visitor? _Lindsey thought, still a little dreary. _Who would be visting-_

Lindsey almost jumped when she realized who it probably was. She wasn't sleepy anymore, that was for sure. She was fully awake.

Before Lindsey had a chance to prepare herself her father was at the door, speaking to someone standing in the hallway.

"She's awake now. Go ahead in… just, uh, leave the door open." He said as he walked in the opposite direction down the hall.

Then he was there. Standing in the doorway. Dripping wet from the rain and shaking slightly from the cold. Looking at her like he hadn't seen her in years… like he had never thought he'd see her again.

"Hey Lindsey… welcome back," Nick said, sounding unsure of himself.

"H-hi Nick." Lindsey managed to push out of her mouth. Suddenly the words that had rung through her head in the moments before she fell asleep rang clear. _One more chance… just one more chance…_

Lindsey sat up straight in her bed as Nick came over to sit beside her. She was ready to give herself one more chance. Now all she had to do is convince Nick to do the same.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note: Wow you guys, I am SO sorry that this took so long to finish… It's been almost a year since the last chapter was updated. Honestly for a while I thought this chapter would never be written, I was so busy with college and work that I just kept putting it off. However people kept messaging me and writing reviews asking for more, and when someone asked me to finish just a few weeks ago I figured that this story deserved an ending. I mean after all, I started this story for the people who wanted to see Lindsey and Nick end up together, if I never finished it would have been totally counterproductive!

Anyway, this is the final chapter, the third and final part to the story. Thanks to everyone who waited so patiently. I really hope you all enjoy this; hopefully it was at least somewhat worth the wait!

"Nick! What, um… what are you doing here?"

Lindsey jumped slightly out of her bed as if she was going to stand up, but then sat back down on the edge of it. She tried to pat down her hair, which she could tell without looking was sticking up everywhere, then she sat on her hands to keep from fidgeting around. She wasn't quite sure what to do with her hands or her feet… or any part of her body for that matter. She wasn't even sure that Nick would want to speak to her when she got back, she would have never guessed he'd be standing in her room mere hours after she got home.

"Hey Lindsey" Nick said quietly as he looked down at the floor, "I just um, I knew you were coming home today, I uh, wanted to come see how the trip went."

"You're totally drenched," Lindsey laughed, "What did you do, walk here?"

"What? Walked here? That's ridiculous," Nick laughed awkwardly. Of course Nick was about the world's worst liar, and Lindsey could tell by the look on his face and the way his voice dropped that he probably had in fact walked at least part of the way.

After a few more moments of awkward silence, Lindsey motioned to a chair in the corner of her room and Nick grabbed pulled it closer to her bed, sitting with his legs straddling the back of it.

"So, how was the 'summit?'" Nick asked, putting air quotes around the last word.

"Was it that obvious I didn't go?" Lindsey muttered with an embarrassed shrug, making sure her voice didn't raise high enough for her parents, who she knew were probably listening in from the next room, to hear.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you weren't really going to some academic summit Lindsey," he laughed softly, "Where did you really go?"

"Kim and I travelled around with Laurie and her friends for a while. They're still going to be gone for a while, but I kinda had to come back or my parents would get suspicious."

"Right…"

"So um, how have you been? Have you been keeping busy?" Lindsey asked, almost cringing at how awkward everything he was saying sounded. She was so terrible at small talk that it wasn't even funny.

"Yeah. I've been busy. Really really busy, "he replied. He then bit his lip and stared at Lindsey expectantly, like he was waiting for her to ask him something specific.

"Um…" Lindsey started, thinking she knew what it is he wanted her to say, "Are you and _ still..."

"No," he said, too quickly and too brightly, "No we aren't. It was fun while it lasted, but we broke up a few days after you left. We were just too different, ya know? Wouldn't have worked out."

"Right… yeah you're probably right," Lindsey said exhaling deeply, wondering if that basically confirmed her suspicions that Nick had only been trying to make her jealous.

"Plus, between you and me," Nick continued as he leaned into Lindsey, as if he were telling her some important secret, "Disco kinda blows."

They both started cracking up, and as their laughter died down they found themselves back in their awkward silence, staring at each other. Lindsey wanted desperately to change the topic to something else, anything to fill the silence, but she had no clue what to say. Her revelations from early were still swirling in her head as she looked at Nick, who was looking at her with the same look he had always looked at her with before their relationship and friendship had gone south- a mix of admiration and desperation that left his eyes looking sad and distant.

The silence broke when both of them said each others names at the same time, and resumed momentarily when they both looked away embarrassed again. This conversation was clearly going nowhere.

"You go first," Lindsey said, pretending to be distracted by the rain that was hitting her window.

"I just…" Nick started and then paused again, like he was trying to collect his thoughts and word things exactly right, "I'm just really sorry, alright? For everything that happened before you left, everything that happened after…"

"After we broke up," Lindsey said, finishing the sentence that Nick had trailed off from.

"Right," he nodded, a slight pained look in his face, like the memory still caused him grief, "I acted like a real jerk. And I don't know if you're even still angry or not, or if you don't want to forgive me or whatever, but I know I said some pretty mean things because I wasn't handling everything well, and I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

Nick finished with a huge exhale, like a weight had been lifted from his chest, and went back to staring at his feet and kicking at the foot of Lindsey's bed. Lindsey looked at Nick, waiting for him to look back up at her before she replied, but he avoided her gaze.

"I'm not mad Nick," she said like it should be common knowledge, though Nick obviously was surprised by the look on his face when he lifted his head to look at her again, "I mean, I was mad. When I left. I was really mad. But I think I was just… hurt and confused. Confused more than anything I think. And I wasn't exactly the nicest person in the world to you either before I left either. So I'm sorry too. Really sorry Nick."

Nick face brightened up and a ghost of smile showed on his face. Lindsey hadn't realized until now how hard it must have been for him these past few weeks. They had fought terribly and she had just disappeared, leaving him behind. She had kept so busy that she hadn't had much time to think of him until her mind was left to wander on the bus ride home, but Nick had been left behind without so much as goodbye from her, left to wonder if she would ever speak to him ever again.

"That's… that's great Lindsey. I'm really glad. So do you think we can just go back to the way things were before all this happened? To being friends again? That's all I really want. I miss being around you."

"Yeah," Lindsey said automatically, once again like Nick should have already known the answer.

"Great," Nick sighed with relief, his enthusiasm no longer being contained, "Thank Lindsey. Thanks so much."

After a moment's silence, Nick got up from his chair and sat next to Lindsey on the bed and pulling her into a hug. Lindsey froze for a moment, then wrapping her arms around him in return. She could feel the butterflies in the pit of her stomach and tried to will them away, failing miserably. They pulled away from the hug, their arms still holding onto each other slightly, and looked at each other again. The sad look was back in Nick's eyes, and Lindsey was painfully aware of how close their faces were to each other. After another moment Nick jumped back slightly, releasing his arms from around Lindsey. He looked guilty, as if he had done something he shouldn't have done. He fidgeted a little on the bed, unsure of what to do with his arms or his eyes or his voice, and then stood up quickly.

"Well I should probably go. I know your parents don't exactly love you having a guy in your room. I just wanted to make sure everything was, ya know, cool between us. I'll talk to you later, alright Lindsey?"

"Right," Lindsey said a little taken aback.

Nick gave one look at Lindsey and sighed as he turned to leave. Lindsey suddenly snapped out of her confusion and opened her mouth to call him back. She tried to say "Nick," but what came out sounded more like a choked gag. Nick stopped in her doorway and turned back to her.

"You okay Linds?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, I mean no, I mean…" Lindsey stumbled with her words and stood up from her bed. She hadn't exactly thought about what she wanted to say to Nick, but she felt like if she didn't say it now that she wouldn't get the nerve to ever again.

"I don't want to be friends, Nick" Lindsey finally managed to choke out.

"What?" Nick said taking a step back into her room. The hurt look on his face meant he obviously misinterpreted her words.

"No that's not what I meant!" Lindsey said, her voice squeaking slightly as she realized that she had definitely not worded that correctly, "I mean, that came out wrong, I just…"

Lindsey was starting to freak out a little, and her breathing was getting quicker and heavier. Nick stood staring at her with a completely clueless look on his face. Lindsey finally took a deep breath and ran over to the door, nudging Nick to the side as she peeked out the door and down the hall to make sure her parents weren't listening in. For the moment at least they didn't seem to be anywhere where they would be able to hear their conversation, so she popped her head back into the room. She closed the door enough that their conversation would be muffled, but not all the way so that her parents couldn't hear the tell tale 'click' of a bedroom door shutting with a teenage boy and girl on the other end.

"Look Nick, I've been thinking a lot these past few weeks," Lindsey lied, she had really only been thinking a lot that past few hours and she knew she was probably rushing herself, but she was sick and tired of playing it safe, "I think, if you're still willing, I mean if you don't totally hate me after last time, maybe we could, I don't know-"

Lindsey couldn't finish her thought though, because Nick, suddenly realizing what Lindsey was trying to say, interrupted her cupping her face in his hands and pulling her in for quickly for a kiss.

Lindsey's mind went fuzzy for a moment, then her body relaxed as she threw her arms around Nick and pulled him in closer. It was a very simple, innocent kiss, their lips barely moved at all as they were both consumed by the fact that they were actually kissing. There was however a slight twinge of desperation in it, like they had both been waiting forever just to kiss each other again, even though it hadn't really been that long since the last time they had kissed. This kiss was different than any other kiss the two had shared when they were dating though. Those kisses were awkward, shy kisses, neither of them really knowing what to do with themselves. This kiss was natural, their lips and bodies fitting together like missing pieces of a puzzle. It wasn't a perfect kiss, but it was a pretty damn good one.

Nick pulled away from the kiss first, his face still lingering close to Lindsey's. They both laughed a little and stepped back nervously and embarrassed. They didn't advert their gaze from each other this time however, if anything they watched each other more closely to make sure the other wouldn't run off in embarrassment and take it all back.

"So," Nick said simply, unable to hide his grin.

"So," Lindsey repeated back to him as she bit her lip to stop herself from giggling.

"Are you sure you want to try this again?" Nick asked nervously.

"Positive," Lindsey said. And she really was.

Nick beamed and leaned forward and kissed Lindsey again, and the two could feel each other grinning against the kiss. They were cut short by the sound of Lindsey's dad outside the door.

"Is everything alright in there Lindsey?" he called, trying to sound nonchalant but with a noticeable edge in his voice.

"Yeah Dad," she called back, rolling her eyes and opening the door to her father standing on the other side looking quite embarrassed. To be caught eavesdropping, "Nick is just about to leave, I'm just walking him to the door."

"Oh, alright, go ahead then," her father said walking back to the front room, obviously relieved that Nick was leaving.

Nick and Lindsey shot each other shy, knowing glances, and Lindsey lead them out of the room. They walked through the living room, where both of Lindsey's parents were failing at pretending to not pay attention to the two. They walked through the front door together, and Lindsey left the door open to humor her parents.

"Sorry about them," Lindsey said as she turned back to Nick.

"Nah, its fine, they are just worried about you kissing strange boys behind closed doors is all," he laughed and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek, "I should probably get going, it's kinda late and I'm sure your parents want to hear all about your 'summit.'"

"Ugh, don't remind me," Lindsey groaned.

"I'll call you tomorrow?"

"Alright," Lindsey smiled, "I'll be waiting."

Nick glance over Lindsey's shoulder to make sure no one was watching and then snuck one last kiss before heading off into the darkness. Lindsey watched him for a little bit as he walked off in the rain, which was now only coming down as a slight drizzle, and then turned to go back inside.

Her parents were giving Lindsey a slightly suspicious look, to which Lindsey responded with, "So, who wants to hear more about my summit?"

Temporarily distracted by the promise of more tales from Lindsey's imaginary summit, Lindsey's parents decided to refrain from asking any questions abut what had just happened in Lindsey's room. Lindsey spouted off the stories she had been rehearsing for weeks. She had butterflies in her stomach, but they definitely weren't from fear of being found out by her parents.

Lindsey smiled and looked out the window while her parents chatted to themselves for a moment about how proud they were of Lindsey. The rain had completely stopped, and Lindsey was feeling more hopeful than she had in a long time. She and Nick had a long road ahead of them, but this time she was ready for the journey.


End file.
